Juvenile Delinquents: 2022 Hyundai Elantra N vs. 2022 Subaru WRX Limited

From the November 2022 issue of Car and Driver.

As any aging punk rocker can tell you, youth is fleeting, and it’s hard to maintain the proper level of shameless rage as you get older. This is the dilemma facing Subaru, as the fifth-generation WRX attempts to please its maturing fans with adult styling and comfort while still holding on to its turbo-whistling, four-wheel-gravel-spitting persona. In the meantime, the Hyundai Elantra N has burst onto the scene, rude and exuberant, with none of the expectations of nostalgia weighing on its spoiler. Which earns the most sport-compact cred?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and may not be what either brand is attempting here, but we’ll assert that neither the WRX nor the Elantra N would be the star of the catwalk. The Subaru is chunky and cladded. It’s not radically different from Subarus past, but it’s toned down. The WRX still has a wide-fendered stance, but without a big shopping-cart wing and a jutting front lip, it looks more like a hiking sneaker than a rally racer. Not that the Elantra N can throw stones. Its huge frowning grille and crinkled body lines had a few staffers wincing. Let’s just say the word “tacky” made more than one appearance in the logbook.

Inside, the WRX continues its mission of inoffensiveness, with a comfortable but unremarkable cabin that has carbon-fiber-patterned accents, red stitching, and a vertical 11.6-inch touchscreen. The materials’ feel and finish are upgrades over the previous model’s, though we had to reference the photographs to recall those details. The Elantra, on the other hand, sticks in one’s memory. Microsuede and faux leather surround a 10.3-inch touchscreen, and BMW-like steering-wheel buttons promise all kinds of Sport-mode mayhem. There’s a cherry-red unit just for rev matching, a convenience all manual-transmission cars should adopt. Want it? Press it. Don’t want it? Don’t press it. The Elantra seats get mixed reviews. Some of us liked the driving position and high side bolsters; others felt they lacked padding and combined with the N’s stiff ride in tailbone-bruising malice.

2nd Place: Subaru WRX
Highs: Comfortable on the road, mature in its movements, quiet.
Lows: Cheap speed isn’t so cheap, who wants a quiet and mature WRX?

1st Place: Hyundai Elantra N
Highs: Connected chassis, dumb fun with no shame.
Lows: Stiff ride, firm seats, flirting with too-wild styling.

Get into the numbers, and the Elantra N zips ahead in almost every metric, on paper and on the road. It’s quicker and lighter, pulls harder, and turns sharper than the WRX. Its turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder makes 276 horsepower and 289 pound-feet of torque, both more than you get from the Subaru’s 2.4-liter flat-four, which puts out 271 horses and 258 pound-feet.

With all four tires laying down power off the line, the WRX manages to beat the front-drive Elantra to 30 mph, but after that, it sees the Hyundai’s taillights. The Elantra wins to 60 mph, to 100 mph, and in the quarter-mile, which it knocks out in 13.8 seconds at 103 mph, while the Subie takes 13.9 at 101. Close, we admit, but a win’s a win. There’s a lagginess to the WRX’s power delivery when exiting corners, whereas the Elantra is raring to go. Speaking of corners, the Elantra pulls 0.99 g on the skidpad, and the WRX pushes to 0.95 g. The Subaru brings things to a halt a little sooner, stopping in 153 feet from 70 mph, whereas the Elantra N takes 156 feet. The Elantra regains the upper hand in the numbers game when we get to price and fuel economy. The Hyundai costs $4000 less than the Subaru and gets 32 mpg at 75 mph. Subie-doo ekes out 28.

On math alone, the win goes to the Elantra N, and our less scientific fun meters agree. The WRX is grown-up. It’s all-wheel drive, sure-footed, and unlikely to make anyone mad. The Elantra N, on the other hand, has an N mode that makes the exhaust pop like a dog full of cheese. It’s uncivilized, not always comfortable, and full of personality, much like the WRX used to be. There is very little wrong with the new Subaru, but it’s a more adult car now, trying to atone for the sins of its youth. The Elantra N is here to commit new sins, and it owes nothing to anyone. It’s silly, imperfect, and always down to party.

Source: Reviews - aranddriver.com